“Dima With Each Other”, or "Always Together" in English, is an audio magazine on YouTube. It provides two important accessibility roles: it is an educational and entertainment tool that shares critical rights and health information including how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic for people with visual impairments. The Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR), in cooperation with the Ibsar Association for the Culture and Leisure of blind and visually handicapped people  (IBSAR Association), developed a partnership agreement to develop this initiative for people with visual impairments. The audio magazine provides critical information and solidarity for people with visual impairments during the pandemic through social media.

With the spread of the COVID-19, the Tunisian government has taken many strict measures to prevent the spread of the virus. These measures have included general quarantine and imposing curfews, requiring people to stay at home. Despite the importance of these measures to combat the pandemic, this has revealed disparities regarding accessibility for people to address their daily needs. Special measures have been taken the Tunisian government to meet some of these needs, including providing basic necessities and material subsidies for citizens with limited income; providing lists of volunteer doctors' numbers to provide remote medical consultations; providing remote product ordering services; and delivering home purchases. However, people with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments, are in urgent need of access to information.

This audio magazine initiative is the first of its kind in Tunisia designed for people with visual impairments. It contains four sections:

1. The first section is health time, or "Weqet Sehah”. This provides useful information related to health affairs, whether physical or psychological, that helps people with visual impairments to overcome the mental stresses and physical quarantine. For this reason, the first three issues focused on enabling the listener to contact volunteer doctors to provide health consultations over the phone. It also includes exercises to control stress, provide relaxation, improve blood circulation, and more.
2. The second section is "Know Your Rights”. This information was targeted to visually impaired women to simplify and disseminate legal information. For example, an explanation of Law No. 58 of 2017 to combat violence against women in Tunisia. Given the high number of women who are subjected to domestic and marital violence during quarantine, the audio magazine provided resources that enabled women with disabilities to access services and institutions. Resources included names and telephone numbers of associations and centers that provide listening and guidance in various regions in Tunisia.
3. The third section is light information, or "Malouma Lite”. This provides entertainment and cultural information regarding audio libraries, advice, intellectual games, dishes that can be prepared by people with visual impairments, and information about leading female figures with disabilities, and those with visual impairments in particular.
4. The fourth section is "Mini Tech". This provides digital literacy for people with visual impairments, so that they have independence in communication and are able to benefit from applications and services that facilitate their lives. This includes information on taxi reservation services, remote product ordering services, home delivery services, and more.

This collaboration of CAWTAR and the IBSAR Association results in two episodes of the audio magazine of "Dima With Each Other" broadcasted every week on Wednesday and Saturday. Anyone can follow the audio magazine "Dima Ma3na" on their YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdVfTMDSx-hi3TwdRUHC_mw

The Center for Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR) was established in 1993, in response to the desire of many international and regional organizations, NGOs, and Arab governments, to establish a regional center for research and studies on the status of women, to collect, analyze and publish data, indicators, and statistics related to the economic, social and political conditions of women. CAWAR also contributes to building the capacities of actors, supporting networking and strategic partnerships, and enhancing women's rights advocacy tracks.

http://www.cawtar.org/en

CAWTAR Facebook Page

IBSAR Facebook Page

New Tactics in Human Rights does not advocate for or endorse specific tactics, policies or issues.